North Country Blues

歌詞

Come gather 'round friends, and I'll tell you a tale Of when the red iron ore pits ran plenty But the cardboard-filled windows and old men on the benches Tell you now that the whole town is empty In the north end of town, my own children have grown But I was raised on the other In the wee hours of youth, my mother took sick And I was brought up by my brother The iron ore poured as the years passed the door The drag lines and shovels, they was humming 'Til one day my brother failed to come home The same as my father before him Well, a long winter's wait from the window, I watched My friends, they couldn't have been kinder And my schooling was cut as I quit in the spring To marry John Thomas, a miner Oh, the years passed again and the givin' was good With a lunch bucket filled every season But with three babies born, the work was cut down To a half a day's shift with no reason And the shaft was soon shut and more work was cut And the fire in the air, it felt frozen 'Til a man come to speak and he said in one week That number eleven was closing They complained in the east, they are paying too high They say that your ore ain't worth diggin' That it's much cheaper down in the South American towns Where the miners work almost for nothin' So the mining gates locked and the red iron rotted And the room smelled heavy from drinkin' And the sad silent song made the hour twice as long As I waited for the sun to go sinkin' I lived by the window as he talked to himself This silence of tongues, it was building 'Til one morning's wake, the bed, it was bare And I was left alone with three children The summer is gone, the ground's turning cold The stores one by one, they're a-foldin' My children will go as soon as they grow Well, there ain't nothin' here now to hold them